Week 4

Accomplishments:

1. Mechanical
   1. We 3D printed a mechanism for loading the beanbags onto the catapult. We designed for a capacity of 2 bags, as another can be loaded onto the catapult in the start.
   2. Coupled the servos (actuators) with the beanbag loading mechanism.
2. Electrical
   1. Programmed Servos for actuating the beanbag loading mechanism successfully.
3. Software
   1. We documented setup of Raspberry Pi, including the installation of the operating system Ubuntu 16.
   2. We figured we could use Raspberry Pi SSH and wireless hotspot can be used as the main computer, and install ROS on it for controlling the Pioneer P3DX.
4. Integration
   1. Integrated the servo mechanisms with the beanbag loading mechanism.

Challenges:

1. Mechanical
   1. As we had a new material PLA+ for printing, compared to PLA, we had to figure our the right combination of base temperature and melting temperature for accurate 3D printing. This had to be done in an iterative process.
   2. Once the mechanism for reloading was 3D printed, we had to setup the servo mechanism in conjunction with each other to drop the beanbags.
2. Electrical
   1. Once we procured a Raspberry PI camera, getting the Raspberry Pi setup to talk to the camera was a challenge. Unfortunately, in the process, the Raspberry Pi 3B+ is currently dead and we had to procure a new one.
   2. The camera that was acquired for this setup turned out to not work properly after hours of effort trying to get it to work correctly.
3. Software
   1. Setting up the Raspberry Pi was a challenge. Sometimes, the wifi was not working, needing specific versions of Ubuntu to use for ROS and ROSARIA to work properly.
4. Integration
   1. The servos to be integrated along with the mechanism were fighting, hence we had to align them more accurately.

Next Week

1. Mechanical
   1. Assemble the catapult mechanism along with the beanbag loading mechanism on the robot base.
2. Electrical
   1. Motor Coupling with the launching mechanism to do automatic launching.
3. Software
   1. Try to get the new RaspberryPI camera integrated fully with the new Raspberry pi.
4. Integration
   1. Complete integration of beanbag and catapult mechanism with the robot for the mid-term demo.